An artist will be selected to create a site-specific public art project for the environmental non-profit Elizabeth River Project at the site of their new Ryan Resilience Lab in Norfolk, Virginia to be installed September 2023 with a total budget of $50,000.

Designed by Norfolk architectural firm Work Program Architects, the innovative, 6,500 square foot, solar-equipped Ryan Resilience Lab is being intentionally built inside a flood zone to demonstrate environmentally sustainable construction. The building has an intentional life span of 30 to 50 years to match sea level predictions for Norfolk. The Elizabeth River Project plans to place the property in long-term 2 conservation using the nation’s first “rolling conservation easement,” pledging to remove the building once water levels reach a trigger point.

Elizabeth River Project’s Ryan Resilience Lab will be a multi-purpose learning lab that incorporates advanced and easily replicable sustainable/resilient design technologies and techniques throughout the building and site, demonstrating environmental resilience to sea level rise.

The tidemarker art installation will be located in the Learning Park along the waterfront of the Ryan Lab. The art location is not predetermined, though some suggested locations have been identified and the artist will participate in selecting the site. Artist hard-hat tours can be arranged to visit the construction site, get a sense of the area, and see in-person the locations identified in the site map as potential public artwork installation locations. Locations marked “pedestal” have been identified as possible sites, and the artist is not necessarily constrained to mounting the piece on a pedestal.

Please see the commission link and document for full project information, and click here to apply.